Jurgen Klopp admits Villarreal's win against Bayern Munich was "impressive" but insists he needs "a bit of time to prepare properly" before he can make an assessment.
Liverpool will face Unai Emery's side in the semi-finals of the Champions League after the Spanish outfit recorded a sensational 3-2 aggregate win against Bayern Munich. The Reds, meanwhile, progressed thanks to a 6-4 aggregate victory against Benfica.
Villarreal have struggled in La Liga under Emery. They could only muster a seventh-place finish last season and are on course to repeat the feat this time around. In Europe, however, it's a different story. They stunned Manchester United to win the Europa League last season and are now aiming to reach their first Champions League final.
Former Arsenal boss Emery is known as a European specialist. He's a four-time winner of the Europa League - lifting the trophy in three consecutive seasons at Sevilla - and guided Arsenal to the final of the same competition in 2018-19, losing 4-1 to Chelsea.
Emery's time at the Emirates was short-lived. He led the Gunners to within a point of Champions League qualification during his first season in charge and was sacked three months into his second after going seven games without a win.
"If I could do an analysis of Villarreal right now that would be very strange," said Klopp on Wednesday evening. "I saw the results, the game was very impressive.
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"I only picked up pieces but to beat Juventus and Bayern Munich they deserve to be in the Champions League semi-finals. Unai Emery is the king of the cups, it is unbelievable what he is doing. But give me a bit of time to prepare it properly."
Liverpool comfortably reached the last four of the Champions League thanks to a 3-3 draw at Anfield on Wednesday evening. The Reds boasted a 3-1 lead from last week's first leg in Lisbon and simply had to avoid a defeat by two goals or more to qualify.
After Ibrahima Konate's opener was ruled out by Benfica forward Goncalo Ramos, Roberto Firmino scored a brace to give the hosts a commanding 6-2 aggregate lead. Goals from Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez levelled the game on the night, yet Liverpool's pre-existing advantage was simply too great.
"The day we qualify for the Champions League semi-final and I'm not happy please come and knock me out," added Klopp. "We made seven changes. the situation was the last line had never played together and it was about details, staying 100 per cent concentrated.
"It was not exactly what we wanted but it is absolutely not important because if we played the best game of the season tonight it wouldn't have made it more likely to get to the final. We are through and that's all that matters and I'm really happy.
"The one thing we knew is it will be hard as the last line never played together. You lose the boys like Virgil [van Dijk] and these things are normal. This is not a problem. Benfica kept believing and kept going that's all. It was important we could make changes and still be successful. that's fine."
Liverpool will face Villarreal at Anfield on April 27, with the second leg taking place at the Estadio de la Ceramica on May 3. The two teams have faced each other in a European semi-final before, as Liverpool won their Europa League clash 3-1 on aggregate in 2016. Ironically, Klopp's side went on to lose to Emery's Sevilla in the final.
